Little Man
Caitlyn's eyes were, as her mother would say, in the middle of her face. That same mother would probably not have recognized her, given the giant bags under said eyes. The more time she spent with Vi, the less sleep she got, and it was getting worse than her first weeks at the Academy.
After two days—and two nights—at the Leaky Cauldron, she was already running on fumes. The days had been packed, the second even more than the first, but at least Caitlyn hadn't spilled anything on anyone. Her feet hurt twice as much, though.
And the evenings—hell, the nights—were no quieter. She and Vi would just chat them away until the wee hours. Vi would sit on her bed, and Caitlyn would just look at her under the candlelight. It didn't matter what they talked about: whether it was the weird customer with eyes that seemed to be silently telling each other to fuck off, the handsy man who made the grievous mistake of reaching for Caitlyn's bosom before Vi grabbed his fingers and dragged him outside (as he begged her to let go before they broke), or the very, very attractive blonde woman in her fifties who had clearly tried to hit it off with Vander.
None of it mattered. The only thing that did was watching Vi: her laugh, the little tears in the corners of her eyes when that laugh became too much, the freckles that appeared whenever they wanted to, following no rules at all. Seeing her hair go in all directions whenever she lay down, like a short pink sun around her perfect face. Caitlyn wanted to bite down on her own hand just to check if she would wake up or not.
She wouldn't. For that, she'd need to get to sleep first, and that was not happening.
Thankfully, this morning was a slow one. Maybe the calm before the storm, as New Year's Eve was only two days away.
"Everything all right, Mrs. Kiramman?" asked Vander with his low rumble of a voice.
"All peachy, Vander. And if you call me Mrs. Kiramman once more, I'll tell your customers that the scones you serve are made with a French recipe."
The man laughed so hard, the counter shook.
"You're way too good an investigator, Miss. I leave you alone for one hour to run an errand, and you find my deepest secret!"
"You left the book opened in the kitchen!"
The chime of the entrance bell cut their discussion short, like a cold breeze cutting between the last day of summer and the first day of fall.
A young man appeared in the doorway, casting a long shadow inside.
"Welcome!" Caitlyn greeted cheerfully.
"Little Man!" screamed Vander even louder. "By Merlin, how long has it been? You haven't changed at all!"
The bear of a man rushed toward the newcomer and grabbed him in a bone-breaking hug.
"Hello, Vander. It's been a while, indeed. Sorry I didn't come visit you sooner. I... I've got no excuse, man. I should have."
Vander grabbed him by both shoulders with his massive hands, as if he wanted to shake him.
"I understand, kid. I understand. Don't sweat it."
The kid gave him a warm but apologetic smile. Caitlyn could finally inspect him a little more. His look was definitely not classic for a wizard. He must have been in his early twenties—maybe twenty-one—with chocolate skin and mid-length ashen dreads tied together at the top of his skull.
A long coat of greenish-grey fell all the way to his ankles, similar to wizard robes but with a more Muggle-inspired cut, made with what looked like century old leather. His hands were sunk deep inside large pockets at either side of his waist.
"Vi's here?" he finally asked.
Vander chuckled, then tucked his lower lip between his teeth and let out the loudest, longest whistle Caitlyn had ever heard.
Even louder stomping from the stairs silenced the chatter in the inn.
"Yes, Vander? You called for me?"
Caitlyn couldn't help but chuckle. Maybe she'd try that trick herself someday.
Then, Vi noticed the new guest, and her face lit up.
"Ekko!"
She didn't run or jump down the stairs. She dove toward him, like a hawk to its prey, and crashed into him with the force of a Bludger. Her hug was stronger than Vander's—if that was even possible—and Ekko's face paled under the overwhelming pressure.
Time froze for a split second, and then his arm moved out of his pockets and up her back as he gave in to the hug. Caitlyn saw tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
"I've missed you, Little Man," whispered Vi.
"Missed you too, Violence."
"What' you doing here? Not that I'm complaining."
"I heard you were around. Needed to tell you in person. Quicker this way. Let's sit."
"Tell me what?" she asked, motioning toward an empty table for them to sit at while Vander went back to tending his customers.
Ekko dragged a chair to his feet and crashed onto it.
"One of my guys spotted her last night. Talked to her, actually. Before she tried to turn him into a nightmare chicken."
Vi paled.
"Powder?"
"Yes, Powder. Jinx.
"What do you mean, Jinx?" Caitlyn interjected.
Ekko looked at her oddly, as if only now noticing her presence.
"I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Oh, right!" Vi reacted. "Sorry. Ekko, this is Cait."
Caitlyn extended her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Ekko. I'm Caitlyn. I worked with Vi at Hogwarts."
Faster than light, Ekko jumped out of his chair, wand drawn and pointed at Caitlyn.
"Professor Kiramman, I take it? New Defense teacher?"
Vi stood up too, dumbfounded, her mouth practically hitting the floor.
"Ekko, what the hell? Get that wand down!"
Everyone in the inn was watching now. It wasn't that many people, but still too much for Cait's taste, in this situation.
"You didn't tell me you were working with an Auror!"
"She ain't no Auror," Vi countered. "Hasn't been for months!"
With his arm extended toward her as a weapon, Caitlyn noticed the mark on the inside of Ekko's wrist—a strange insect, like a mechanical moth.
"You're Firelight..." she whispered.
Then her eyes caught the second mark, just below the insect.
"Wait... You're not just any Firelight! You're Timebomb!"
Vi looked between them as though they had suddenly started speaking an alien language.
"Ekko!" thundered a voice from the back.
All eyes turned to Vander, including the captivated group of customers, who were clearly enjoying the unexpected spectacle a little too much. His expression was one Caitlyn hadn't seen before—not that two days was much to go on—but she knew immediately what it meant.
"Wand down, boy!" Vander growled, his tone edged with authority. "Please."
Ekko begrudgingly obeyed.
"What in Merlin's name is going on?" Vi demanded, louder this time.
They both shouted at once:
"She's an Auror!"
"He's a Firelight!"
Vi groaned, rubbing her face with both hands.
"No, she's not an Auror anymore! She's my friend, and she's been helping me for months! Now, what the hell is a Firelight?"
Ekko glanced at Caitlyn.
"It's my crew," he mumbled.
"It's a criminal gang!" Caitlyn shot back.
Vi's nose crinkled as she buried her face in her hands.
"Not at the same time! Cait, what's Firelight?"
"It's a gang," Caitlyn explained, turning toward Vi. "They've been running Aurors in circles for a few years. We could never figure out their motives or who their leader was... except that he goes by Timebomb and has an hourglass tattoo on his left arm. I guess I finally found you."
Vi turned her wide eyes to Ekko.
"Little Man?"
"We ain't no gang. We're just a group of folks that had to do what the Aurors won't."
"Now, that's..." retorted Caitlyn.
"Cait! Please!" Vi cut her off, louder than she had ever dared to speak to her. "Not now."
Caitlyn fell silent, more from shock than obedience.
"Ekko?" Vi prompted.
"As I was saying, your little Professor here has been locking up my mates in Azkaban for no crimes other than stepping up to other gangs the Aurors wouldn't touch."
"I have never sent any Firelight to Azkaban!" Caitlyn objected, her tone sharp. "Sorry, Vi, but that's just a lie! I personally arrested three of your so-called mates, and two of them were convicted to pay a fine. The last one was released for lack of evidence!"
"Until they came back a month later to arrest them again! This time for good!"
Caitlyn didn't pale—she blanched.
"They what...?"
"Don't act like you're not part of it, Auror. You know damn well your little friends came to pick them off in the night and send them to Azkaban! They're still there!"
Caitlyn sank into a chair, her eyes empty, her mind drowning under the weight of the accusation.
"I can't believe it," she muttered to herself.
But deep down, she knew. She didn't even need to search that far. Ekko's eyes—burning with the truth of his anger—were enough.
"I... I had no idea," she tried to explain, her voice faltering.
Vi stepped between them, her stance defensive and protective.
"Ekko, please! Cupcake has nothing to do with this! She's been at Hogwarts since the summer, and she would never do that! Please, trust me on this!"
"Trust you?" Ekko snarled. "After the shit you pulled on us? After you dipped? When Powder needed you the most?"
Vi's arms dropped to her sides, the motion more surrender than defeat.
"You know I never wanted any of this, Little Man! Do you really think I'd have left if I knew what she was going through? Who she was hanging with? Do you think I got stuffed in a stone box for seven bloody years on purpose?"
Her voice cracked, filling with barely contained tears.
"I just wanted to figure out who I was, Ekko. I just needed to find out what I wanted in life. I spent seven years in that box, knowing every single one of my siblings had just died while I was off doing my thing. Trust me, Little Man... I already hate myself more than you ever could. There's no need to add to it, I'm begging you."
The crowd in the inn was silent. Even Vander, watching from afar, seemed frozen, his gaze fixed on his adoptive daughter, absorbing every word of her confession.
Caitlyn rose from the chair, placing a gentle hand on Vi's shoulder while staring Ekko dead in the eye.
"Please, Ekko. Don't make Vi pay for the hate you feel toward me. She's got nothing to do with this. If you know anything about her sister, tell us."
Ekko's eyes flicked between the two women several times, then shifted toward Vander at the bar. After a long pause, he let out a defeated sigh and dropped heavily into another chair, which creaked under his weight, and hid his wand back into his pocket.
"Fine. Alright. For Powder."
He grabbed his head with both hands, ruffling his dreads, then fixed Vi with an intense stare, a newfound resolve hardening his features.
"Do you remember Rowle? Thorfinn Rowle?"
Vi nodded. "Yeah, joined at the hip with the other asshole. Bolotov?"
"Dolohov," Ekko corrected. "Yeah, that one."
Caitlyn's brows furrowed as she sifted through her memories.
"I remember them. Slytherin. Members of the Quidditch teams. Absolute wankers, on and off the pitch."
Ekko spared her a fleeting glance and sneered. "Yeah, well. After you left Hogwarts, Pow started hanging out with them. You know."
Vi nodded grimly. "We had a few fights about it, I remember. I knew they were bad news."
Ekko's snark was void of humor. "You guessed right. For once. About three years ago—so after Pow died… Well, after we thought she died—they joined this new… I don't know, group? Gang? I don't even know what they are, really. They call themselves Death Eaters."
A shiver ran down Caitlyn's spine. She had never heard the name, but something so sinister couldn't mean anything good.
"They started bullying their way into a few circles," Ekko continued. "Taking on Squibs just for fun, a few robberies here and there. Then one day, they went after one of my mates. Beat the shit out of him. Tortured him. And…" His glare sharpened as he turned to Caitlyn. "No one was doing anything about it. So, a few folks and I decided to step in."
Caitlyn's breath caught. "You created the Firelights to stop the Death Eaters?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Well, someone had to do something! Except you Aurors woke up just in time to go after the wrong target."
"What do you mean? We had reports of racketeering, assaults, and—"
"And we weren't the ones doing it!" Ekko snapped. "We were trying to stop them, but you arrested us instead of them."
The realization hit Caitlyn like a thunderbolt.
"Merlin…" she muttered. "They've got Death Eaters in the Ministry. They were using us to get you out of their way!"
It made too much sense. She remembered the looks on the Firelights she'd arrested—their screams of innocence. And as she pieced it together, she saw the horror dawning on Ekko's face too, replacing the anger that had consumed him moments ago.
"Shit," he muttered.
"But what does this have to do with Powder?" Vi asked, her voice tight, her body so tense it seemed ready to snap.
Ekko's focus shifted back to her.
"Well, after you contacted me the other day—about Pow still being alive—I put a few of my guys on Dolohov and Rowle. I figured, maybe she was still hanging out with them..."
"They found her…" Vi whispered, her words trembling with hope and dread.
But Ekko shook his head. "No. She found them."
He inhaled deeply and tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling, as if searching for answers among the cracks and shadows.
"I'll tell you what they told me. I trust them, but it's… well, you know."
Caitlyn answered for both of them.
"We do."
"Okay, so last night... Dolohov and Rowle both went to the same place. Llangollen, a small village in Wales," Ekko began, his voice low but urgent. "My guys followed. Separately, actually. They tailed them to the village but... you know, we're just regular folks, not pros. I don't know how they got caught, but out of the blue... Powder got the drop on them. Surprised them while they were hiding."
Vi straightened in her chair, her face pale with tension. "They're sure it was her?"
Ekko shook his head, the uncertainty in his expression almost painful. Or maybe he was too certain and wished he wasn't.
"I told them to look for a girl with long blue hair. Hard to miss. So, they asked her, 'Are you Powder?' That's when things got… really weird."
Vi clenched her fists, her knuckles whitening, but she stayed silent, waiting for Ekko to continue.
"They said she got really, really mad and started yelling: 'I'm not Powder! Powder's gone, fell down a well! I'm Jinx! I'm Jinx!' And then…" He exhaled sharply, his voice trembling. "She tried to kill them."
Vi let out a deep, guttural groan of despair, burying her face in her hands.
"Merlin…" she muttered.
"Vi, it's bad," Ekko continued, his voice barely steady. "I don't know what's happened to her, but… one of my guys is missing an arm, Vi. She took his arm off! They barely managed to Apparate away in time, and even then, it was close. We couldn't even take him to St. Mungo's. I… I'm not sure he's gonna pull through."
The silence that followed was deafening. The other customers, oblivious to the grim conversation now that the fight had stopped, had gone back to their meals and drinks. But Vander… Vander still had his eyes locked on them from behind the bar, his hands busy, though his focus was entirely on their table.
"There's worse..." added Ekko. " I take it you haven't seen the news yet?"
Vi looked up at Ekko, her face ashen. "There's worse?" she growled. "Worse than my baby sister turning into a psycho killer?"
Ekko hesitated, then reached into a deep pocket inside his cloak, pulling out a crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet. He flattened it on the table, his hands shaking slightly.
"It's from today," he said, his voice grim. He flipped to the fourth page and pointed to a small article near the bottom.
The title read:
Tragedy in Wales: Family of Four Killed in Vampire Attack